Johnson / Bangs Living Off the Land in Space

Green Roads to the Cosmos
1. Auflage 2007
ISBN: 978-0-387-68316-4
Verlag: Springer-Verlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Human civilization has evolved to the point at which we can consider tapping space resources and expanding beyond Earth's atmosphere. The Introduction surveys possible motivations for large-scale human emigration to space. Since our early ancestors began to move out of Africa, humans have constantly expanded their range. Today, the pattern of human settlement extends from pole to pole. Humans regularly visit the upper troposphere and ocean floor and technology has enabled a few to even reside above the atmosphere in space stations. For the next few millennia at least (barring breakthroughs), the human frontier will include the solar system and the nearest stars. Will it better to settle the Moon, Mars, or a nearby asteroid and what environments can we expect to find in the vicinity of nearby stars are questions that need to be answered if mankind is to migrate into space.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Johnson, Les

Bangs, C.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Contents;5
2;Foreword;10
3;Acknowledgments;11
4;Introduction;13
5;1 The old frontier;20
6;2 The new frontier;28
7;3 The rocket and its limits;40
8;4 The first "green" space technologies;51
9;5 Probes to the planets: where we've been on our journey;60
10;6 Probes to the stars: concept studies;76
11;7 Breaking out into space: visionary fututes;88
12;8 Thinking interstellar;99
13;9 Technological readiness;112
14;10 Space brakes ;126
15;11 The ion trail;138
16;12 The orbital steam locomotive;147
17;13 Sky clippers;155
18;14 Art or science?;167
19;15 Space beanstalks;175
20;16 Chemical propulsion for space exploration;191
21;17 Human exploration;198
22;18 Defending the Earth;208
23;19 Space miners;216
24;20 Some exotic possibilities;224
25;21 Sights on centaurus;237
26;Index;246